Alabama Shakespeare Festival Announces 2010-2011 Season, Including Jasmine Guy in Pearl Cleage Premiere

The Alabama Shakespeare Festival has announced its full 2010-2011 season, which includes the previously reported world premiere of Pearl Cleage’s The Nacirema Society Requests the Honor of Your Presence at A Celebration of its First One Hundred Years, starring Jasmine Guy. The work will play ASF September 24-October 3, prior to transferring to the Atlanta-based Alliance Theatre, October 20 – November 14.

The season will also include Bettye Knapp’s adaption of The House at Pooh Corner (September 22-October 22), featuring all of A.A. Milne’s classic Pooh characters; a return of Peter Pan the Musical (November 19-December 31), with a book by James Barrie, music by Carolyn Leigh and Mark Charlap and additional music by Jule Stine with lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green; and Rodney Clark reprising his performance in Michael Vigilant’s Bear Country (January 13-23), about University of Alabama head coach Paul “Bear” Bryant.

In addition, ASF has partnered with the Alabama Tourism Department to mark the American Civil War’s Sesquicentennial with two world premiere plays: Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder’s The Flagmaker of Market Street (February 4-March 19), which follows the story of true-life Montgomery store owner George Cowles; and Jeffry L. Chastang’s Blood Divided (February 18-March 20), about 15-year old Willie Baldwin, enchanted by the passionate rhetoric of secessionist William Lowndes Yancey, who is increasingly disgusted by his father’s more moderate views.

Shakespearean works will be represented by ASF’s repertory productions of Julius Caesar (beginning February 2) and Much Ado About Nothing (beginning March 9). The repertory will be rounded out by Ron Hutchinson’s comedy Moonlight and Magnolias (April 8 – May 29), a comedy about penning the screenplay to Gone with the Wind.

ASF’s season will close with Jeanie Linders’ Menopause: The Musical, July 8-24, 2011. The show features 25 parodies of classic baby boomer hits including “Hot Flash” (“Heat Wave”), “My Thighs” (“My Guy”), and “Stayin’ Awake” (“Stayin’ Alive”).

For more information visit www.asf.net.